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Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Cactus ChaCha Review

First trail run in the books! I didn't sleep a wink last Friday night, I was so nervous about this run for some reason. I don't know if it was because it was something new and I wasn't sure what to expect, or because I was scared to death of the hills and rocky terrain....but probably both.

Me and my Pops

I had a freaking BLAST!

It was a beautiful morning out in the desert and the race had a really cool laid vibe to it. The "gun" went off and Trent and I headed out after saying hi to several people we knew. The first half of the race was pretty much uphill, rocky and was a "single track" (one runner at a time). I used all my concentration picking through the course and trying to land as carefully as possible. My Garmin didn't work out there so I had no clue how fast I was running and that made it much more fun! I hear a few guys behind me talking about the switchbacks that were up again and I got a little nervous but kept plugging away...the people were SO cool and polite and helpful. I ran with the same group most of the race and they were all laughing, yelling and talking each other through the technical parts, it was really helpful and was something I had never experienced before.

I focused on my breathing up those hills and maintaining the same effort up as I did running flat, and then let it fly downhill all while still being careful so I didn't eat shit or twist an ankle. Nothing like having someone on your heels to keep you moving forward. At one point I lost Trent so I just kept moving and stuck with Hal, an older, very experienced runner and he helped keep me focused on finishing. I really only ran alone for about .50 of the whole course...I can see how people would get lonely out there.

I was really happy to see that finish line and my Dad standing there yelling my name. My official time was 1:09:10 which was a 9:53 pace. I was REALLY happy with that. My feet, ankles and calves hurt in places that have never hurt before, but it makes sense because I didn't run in trail shoes and I hit a lot of rocks using muscles my feet aren't used to using.

My Dad did the Mini ChaCha (3 mile loop) and I was so proud of him. He is not a "runner" and was pretty nervous at the beginning. He is currently working on losing some weight (down 25lbs whoot!) so this was a big step for him, and he did SO good!

AND I won a $50.00 gift card in the raffle to my favorite running store, The Tortoise and Hare!